Madagascar: Alarm in Madagascar Over Wave of Unresolved Child and Adolescent Disappearances and Killings

What the report says

AllAfrica, carrying a report by Fides News Agency from Antananarivo dated July 22, reported growing concern in Madagascar over unresolved disappearances and killings involving children and adolescents since the start of 2026. The cases are concentrated in and around the capital, Antananarivo, and the wider Analamanga Region.

According to police figures cited in the report, authorities received 172 missing-person reports involving minors in the first six months of the year. Analamanga accounted for 119 of those cases. Eight children were later found dead after violent deaths, while 81 of the remaining missing minors have been located and 83 are still unaccounted for. Police said some children still listed as missing may have returned home without families informing authorities.

The report said officials have responded by deploying joint security forces made up of police, gendarmerie and military personnel, with operations running day and night, and by tightening security across Antananarivo. The issue is unfolding against a tense national backdrop after the October 2025 military coup. Colonel Michael Randrianirina, described in the report as having proclaimed himself President of the Refoundation, characterized the incidents as acts intended to destabilize the country and called for a missing-persons alert system involving Madagascar’s churches.

Madagascar’s Catholic Bishops’ Conference also weighed in. In a July 13 statement cited by Fides, the bishops said citizens were living in fear, urged vigilance against disinformation and revenge, and called on leaders to ensure investigations establish the truth rather than fade without answers. A previous bishops’ statement in May had raised broader concerns over insecurity, corruption, living costs, intimidation, arbitrary arrests and abuses of power.